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Between Baalat Teshuva and Britney Spears

JL;DR SUMMARY Elana Sztokman reflects on the complex journey between secular and Orthodox Jewish life, particularly the experiences of individuals, often young women, who transition towards a more religious lifestyle. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish IdentityUltra OrthodoxFeminismOrthodoxyGender SegregationSpiritual JourneyAgunotReligious TransitionWestern InfluenceCultural Binaries

Places mentioned

Brooklyn, New York, United States
"When I was an 18-year-old yeshiva high school graduate from Brooklyn, one of the biggest questions on the minds of my female friends and me right after, who will get engaged next? was, who is going to frum out in Israel?"
Israel
"You know, its what happens during that post-high school yeshiva experience in Israel: the skirts get longer, the bowing gets deeper during prayers, which also increase in frequency."
Minnesota, United States
"headed by a Minnesota state Senator, a Reform Jewish woman whose three adult daughters all became ultra-Orthodox or what is mislabeled baalei teshuva, or returnees, (as if people who are not Orthodox by definition need to repent, as if becoming Orthodox is some kind of return to authenticity)."
Safed, Northern District, Israel
"Turns out, the Senator was coming to Israel to visit her daughter who had recently gotten married in Safed, and she converted the visit into a feminist mission."

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Retrieved 2025-09-30 05:31:20 UTC
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